8vsb Dtv Signals with Pccc and Subsequent Trellis Coding

1. A method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, said method comprising the steps of: coding said ancillary data using parallelly concatenated convolutional codes, which step generates coded ancillary data; placing said coded ancillary data within 1656-bit data segments; time-division multiplexing said 1656-bit data segments having said coded ancillary data placed therewithin, together with any other 1656-bit data segments to be included in said 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, to form a stream of 1656-bit data segments; convolutionally byte interleaving successive 8-bit bytes of said stream of 1656-bit data segments to generate byte-interleaved data; symbol coding said byte-interleaved data to generate symbol codes, which step includes ⅔ trellis coding said byte-interleaved data; generating plural-level 8 VSB modulating signal responsive to said symbol codes; and modulating a radio-frequency carrier wave responsive to said plural-level 8 VSB modulating signal to generate said 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal.

2. The claim 1 method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, wherein said step of symbol coding further includes anti-Gray coding 2-bit nibbles of at least portions of said coded ancillary data.

3. The claim 1 method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, wherein said step of placing said coded ancillary data within 1656-bit data segments places said coded ancillary data laterally within successive 1656-bit data segments.

4. The claim 1 method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, wherein said ancillary data is conveyed by MPEG-2 compatible packets, and wherein said step of placing said coded ancillary data within 1656-bit data segments places said coded ancillary data laterally within successive 1656-bit data segments such that said MPEG-2 compatible packets of said ancillary data are reproduced in respective ones of said 1656-bit data segments as their leading bits.

5. The claim 1 method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, wherein said step of placing said coded ancillary data within 1656-bit data segments places said coded ancillary data transversally across at least a respective portion of each of successive 1656-bit data segments.

6. The claim 1 method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, wherein said step of placing said coded ancillary data within 1656-bit data segments places each word of said coded ancillary data transversally across at least respective portions of a first succession of 1656-bit data segments and transversally across at least respective portions of a second succession of 1656-bit data segments succeeding said first succession of 1656-bit data segments, thereby to implement staggercasting of said coded ancillary data.

7. The claim 1 method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, wherein said step of placing said coded ancillary data within 1656-bit data segments comprises substeps of: puncturing each codeword of said coded ancillary data to remove one half of its parity bits thereby to generate a first type of respective punctured codeword; puncturing each codeword of said coded ancillary data to remove the other half of its parity bits thereby to generate a second type of respective punctured codeword; and with respect to the respective punctured codewords of first type and second type generated from puncturing the same said each codeword of said coded ancillary data, placing said respective punctured codeword of first type transversally across respective portions of an earlier succession of 1656-bit data segments and placing said respective punctured codeword of second type transversally across respective portions of a later succession of 1656-bit data segments, thereby to implement staggercasting of essentially just the data portions said coded ancillary data.

8. A method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, said method comprising the steps of: coding said ancillary data using parallelly concatenated convolutional codes, which step generates coded ancillary data; placing said coded ancillary data within 1496-bit data packets; time-division multiplexing said 1496-bit packets having said coded ancillary data placed therewithin, together with any other 1496-bit packets to be included in said 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, to form a transport stream of 1496-bit packets; (207, 187) Reed-Solomon forward error-correction coding each of said 1496-bit packets in said transport stream to generate respective ones of a principal stream of 1656-bit Reed-Solomon codewords; convolutionally byte interleaving successive 8-bit bytes of said principal stream of said 1656-bit Reed-Solomon codewords to generate byte-interleaved data; symbol coding said byte-interleaved data to generate symbol codes, which step includes ⅔ trellis coding said byte-interleaved data; generating plural-level 8 VSB modulating signal responsive to said symbol codes; and modulating a radio-frequency carrier wave responsive to said plural-level 8 VSB modulating signal to generate said 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal.

9. The claim 8 method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, wherein said step of symbol coding further includes anti-Gray coding 2-bit nibbles of at least portions of said coded ancillary data.

10. The claim 8 method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, wherein said step of placing said coded ancillary data within 1496-bit packets places said coded ancillary data laterally within successive 1496-bit packets.

11. The claim 8 method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, wherein each of said 1496-bit data packets concludes with a respective payload field, and wherein each of said 1496-bit data packets concludes with a respective payload field, and wherein said step of placing said coded ancillary data within 1496-bit packets places said coded ancillary data transversally across the payload fields of successive 1496-bit packets.

12. The claim 8 method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, wherein each of said 1496-bit data packets concludes with a respective payload field, and wherein said step of placing said coded ancillary data within 1496-bit packets places said coded ancillary data transversally across the payload fields of a first succession of 1496-bit packets and transversally across the respective payload fields of a second succession of 1496-bit packets succeeding said first succession of 1496-bit packets, thereby to implement staggercasting of said coded ancillary data.

13. The claim 8 method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, wherein each of said 1496-bit data packets concludes with a respective payload field, and wherein said step of placing said coded ancillary data within 1496-bit packets comprises substeps of: puncturing each codeword of said coded ancillary data to remove one half of its parity bits thereby to generate a first type of respective punctured codeword; puncturing each codeword of said coded ancillary data to remove the other half of its parity bits thereby to generate a second type of respective punctured codeword; and with respect to the respective punctured codewords of first type and second type generated from puncturing the same said each codeword of said coded ancillary data, placing said respective punctured codeword of first type transversally across respective payload fields of an earlier succession of 1496-bit packets and placing said respective punctured codeword of second type transversally across respective portions of a later succession of 1496-bit packets, thereby to implement staggercasting of essentially just the data portions said coded ancillary data.

14. The claim 8 method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, wherein said step of coding said ancillary data includes substeps of: Reed-Solomon forward-error-correction coding chunks of said ancillary data to generate respective ones of an ancillary stream of Reed-Solomon forward-error-correction codewords; and turbo coding each one of said ancillary stream of Reed-Solomon forward-error-correction codewords individually, using parallelly concatenated convolutional codes to generate said coded ancillary data for said placing within 1496-bit packets.

15. The claim 14 method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, wherein said step of Reed-Solomon forward-error-correction coding chunks of said ancillary data to generate respective ones of an ancillary stream of Reed-Solomon forward-error-correction codewords is performed on MPEG-2 compatible packets of said ancillary data organized into 8-bit bytes.

16. The claim 14 method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, wherein said step of placing said coded ancillary data within 1496-bit packets places said coded ancillary data laterally within successive 1496-bit packets.

17. The claim 14 method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, wherein each of said 1496-bit data packets concludes with a respective payload field, and wherein said step of placing said coded ancillary data within 1496-bit packets places said coded ancillary data transversally across the payload fields of successive 1496-bit packets.

18. The claim 14 method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, wherein each of said 1496-bit data packets concludes with a respective payload field, wherein said step of placing said coded ancillary data within 1496-bit packets places said coded ancillary data transversally across the payload fields of a first succession of 1496-bit packets and transversally across the respective payload fields of a second succession of 1496-bit packets succeeding said first succession of 1496-bit packets, thereby to implement staggercasting of said coded ancillary data.

19. The claim 14 method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, wherein said step of placing said coded ancillary data within 1496-bit packets comprises substeps of: puncturing each codeword of said coded ancillary data to remove one half of its parity bits thereby to generate a first type of respective punctured codeword; puncturing each codeword of said coded ancillary data to remove the other half of its parity bits thereby to generate a second type of respective punctured codeword; and with respect to the respective punctured codewords of first type and second type generated from puncturing the same said each codeword of said coded ancillary data, placing said respective punctured codeword of first type transversally across respective payload fields of an earlier succession of 1496-bit packets and placing said respective punctured codeword of second type transversally across respective portions of a later succession of 1496-bit packets, thereby to implement staggercasting of essentially just the data portions said coded ancillary data.

20. A method for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, said method comprising the steps of: coding said ancillary data using parallelly concatenated convolutional codes, which step generates parallelly concatenated convolutionally coded ancillary data; incorporating said parallelly concatenated convolutionally coded ancillary data within selected ones of segments of successive data fields; ⅔ trellis coding said segments of said successive data fields to generate successive three-bit symbol codes; generating plural-level 8VSB modulating signal responsive to said successive three-bit symbol codes; and modulating a radio-frequency carrier wave responsive to said plural-level 8 VSB modulating signal to generate said 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal.

21. The method of claim 20 for transmitting ancillary data within an 8VSB digital television broadcasting signal, wherein said parallelly concatenated convolutionally coded ancillary data is composed of first one-half-rate convolutional coding of said ancillary data and second one-half-rate convolutional coding of said ancillary data, time-interleaved with each other before said steps of incorporating said parallelly concatenated convolutionally coded ancillary data within selected ones of segments of successive data fields and ⅔ trellis coding said segments of said successive data fields.